


A Helping Hand

by acloudysky



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Hand Jobs, M/M, Mentions of onesided Estinien/Aymeric, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:08:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22342342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acloudysky/pseuds/acloudysky
Summary: Gaius is on watch when he notices Estinien isn't having the same violent, restless dreams he usually has.Or: What else are you supposed to do when you notice your travelling companion having a wet dream but offer to help them out when they wake up in the middle of it?
Relationships: Gaius van Baelsar/Estinien Wyrmblood
Comments: 2
Kudos: 63





	A Helping Hand

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first NSFW thing I've ever publicly posted so be gentle please.

Gaius had the fortune (or misfortune) of meeting all manner of strange people in the nearly sixty years he had been alive but Estinien Wyrmblood was by far one of the most mystifying.    
  
Oh there had been others, certainly. Cid and Nero and their complicated not friendship and not relationship came to mind first. What a pleasure it had been to watch the tides of rivalry and affection constantly pull at the latter’s heart. The Warrior of Light too intrigued him but in an entirely different way. 

Those three weren’t currently with him though, so he thought it a better use of his time to try and unravel the tangled mess that was his current travelling companion. 

They’d been alone for some time. It wasn’t that the other Ascian hunters weren’t talented, capable people. He wouldn’t be working with them if they weren’t. Fewer numbers were better when it came to these kinds of missions though and while he could keep pace with Ishgard’s last Azure Dragoon the same could not be said of most people. Their current target required a measure of talent few could provide. 

Traveling together made a few things apparent rather quickly. 

The first was that Estinien was not talkative in any meaningful way. Curses and snide remarks spilled from his lips freely, that was certain, but that was just about the only thing he was liberal with when it came to talking. He’d listen and respond when Gaius threw questions at him as long as they weren’t too personal but it was rare he got anything more than a few words in response. 

While it always seemed like he was absorbing what Gaius said to him, the older man could tell his mind was somewhere else. 

He wasn’t privy to the more personal, complicated parts of Estinien’s life. He’d heard about what had transpired in Ishgard in the broadest terms: the Ascian involvement, the death of Archbishop and the Heaven’s Ward, the subsequent possession of Estinien by Niddhog and his miraculous survival. Beyond that his informants hadn’t gleaned much. He was, frankly, just the tiniest bit fascinated by how the events had changed his travelling companion but any question that got too close to the subject was met with silence. 

The second was that Estinien did not sleep if he could help it. Even when Gaius was technically on watch, when they were forced to rough it, the other man would sit up, knees held tight to his chest as he stared into the smoldering remains of the fire. If not that he’d disappear for hours at a time and return when it was time to switch. It was as if he refused to even entertain the notion of sleeping. 

Gaius figured out why a few days into their journey when Estinien’s body, exhausted from days without real rest, forced him to sleep as soon as he sat down. 

He spent the entire night restless, soft whimpers and labored breaths replacing each other every so often as his body tossed and turned. 

He didn’t wake him when it was time for them to switch, unsure how the other man would react. His immediate attack on one of his associates when they first crossed paths came to mind. He trusted him enough not to turn on him while they were awake but it was clear his dreams were not good ones. There was no telling where his mind would be if he were to be awoken suddenly. 

When Estinien did eventually wake Gaius said nothing. Judging by the way Estinien’s eyes avoided his own he figured it was the right choice. 

The third was that, on top of a lifetime of traumatic events that were clearly still deeply affecting him, he repressed his own romantic inclinations even more so than Gaius’s two favorite engineers. Not that Estinien ever brought it up of his own accord. No, his inner feelings betrayed him in his sleep yet again. 

It was about a month into their journey when it happened. Gaius had thought it odd that the other man seemed to actually be soundly asleep for a change, but didn’t linger on it. Maybe he’d just been lucky that night. 

He looked over again when he thought he’d heard Estinien say something but the other man seemed to still be asleep. 

_ Odd _ . Estinien made a lot of noises in his sleep, small scared noises and sharp cries, angry growls and noises suspiciously close to that of a dragon, but never had he heard him talk before. So he watched for a moment. Estinien’s breaths were quick and shallow, his face flushed. 

It did not take long for Gaius to put two and two together. 

_ Interesting.  _

The dragoon talked so little of his personal life that Gaius hadn’t even considered he desired someone enough to have those kind of dreams about them. Who was the object of his desire was the far more interesting question. It felt a little too voyeuristic to keep watching the other man though. Nor did he want to wake him, seeing as this seemed to be the first good dream he’d had in the entire time they’d been working together. 

So he listened, looking off into the dark away from the fire and his companion, hoping that maybe a name would slip unintentionally from Estinien’s lips. His perverse curiosity was satisfied after a short wait. 

“Aymeric, please. . .” 

_ Ah.  _ Well, that made sense. He’d never personally seen the all-but-leader of Ishgard, but even he had heard of the almost unrealistic beauty of the elezen. The upper rungs of most societies like to gossip about things like that. What little Estinien did reveal about his past usually involved the Lord Commander as well. 

Gaius liked to keep tabs on what foreign powers were up to as sudden changes in leadership or behaviour could be signs of Ascian involvement. As far as he knew the dual Lord Commander and Speaker of the House of Lords was not in a relationship publicly. Was this some kind of private affair or had he somehow stumbled into working with yet another romantically illiterate adult. The latter seemed more likely. 

He, without realizing it, had turned to look back at his companion and was met with cold, gray eyes glaring at him. It was almost comical the way they contrasted with the full face flush Estinien was sporting. 

“I take it you had a good dream.” Estinien rolled over. Well, avoiding the subject was one way to go about this (and seemed to be the way Estinien solved most problems not solvable with a lance). Gaius had questions though and this time he wanted answers. “Are you two-” 

“No.” 

Well, at least it was an answer, curt as it may be. 

Where the next thought that crossed his mind came from he had no idea, but once his mind began to entertain it it was impossible to drive away. He’d never been particularly interested in more romantic inclinations but it would be a lie if he said he’d never desired the touch of another person. Estinien was not an unattractive man by any means and it had been a while. 

“If your mind couldn’t quite finish the job, I wouldn’t be opposed to helping you out.” 

“Oh, I wasn’t aware that Garlemald approved of such relationships,” Estinien said as he rolled back over and sat up to look Gaius in the eyes. His expression had shifted from a mixture of extreme anger and embarrassment to one of forced indifference. The snark, that he should of expected. 

“I wasn’t aware the Holy See did either but it seems like your feelings for Ser Aymeric cross that line. Just what were you begging him to do?” There was the glare again. Maybe he’d gone too far. 

“If you think the money I’ve been paid for this job is enough to stay my lance then you are wrong Shadowhunter.” 

“Yet you still haven’t refused my offer. Interesting.” 

Estinien didn’t break eye contact but he didn’t say anything either. His face betrayed not a hint of what was going on in his head. A solid minute passed before he spoke again. 

“Fine, but if you try anything I will not hesitate-” 

“Yes, yes. I’m well aware just how prickly you can be.” 

Gaius got up and sat down behind the other man and all but had to pull him back against his chest. He could feel the tension underneath Estinien’s skin as soon as they touched. It’d be less awkward, he figured, if they didn’t have to look at each other but the way every single muscle in Estinien’s body was pulled taunt made it clear that it wasn’t working. 

Then a thought crossed his mind. Could it be. . .

“Have you never laid with another person before?” 

It shouldn’t have been possible for Estinien to be more tense than before but as close as they were it was all but impossible not to feel him wind up even tighter. That impossible tension was also the only answer Gaius needed. 

The revelation made him hesitate. It felt wrong, in a way, to be the first. Gaius usually wasn’t one for sentimentality but there was a part of him that could not stop thinking about why and how Estinien had gone through the first thirty some odd years of his life having never known the intimate touch of another person. Surely there must have been someone who would have been willing. 

“Get on with it before I change my mind.” Gaius could tell he was doing his best to sound as uninterested as possible but there was a tenderness that lay beneath. 

Well, if he was being told to. 

One hand found its way up underneath Estinien’s shirt. Gaius almost paused when his fingers passed over what felt like scales on the other’s skin. So his time possessed had left him physically changed. He made a mental note of it but didn’t dwell too long. There was something telling him that it was a topic the other man would rather avoid. 

Soon his hand found its mark though. Gaius half kissed, half bit kisses into Estinien’s neck as he took one of his nipples between his thumb and forefinger and rolled it back and forth with no intention of being particularly gentle. All the while his other hand worked on undoing the elezen’s pants. 

If the way Estinien arched his back was any indication, the choice to err on the rougher side of things was the right one. 

Gaius couldn’t see the other man’s face and he wasn’t making any noise, but he liked to imagine Estinien biting down hard on his lip to keep in any small, tender noises that might betray just how much he was enjoying this. 

Even one handed it didn’t take long for Gaius to get the tie of his pants undone. He felt Estinien’s breath hitch when he touched him through his undergarments. It was strangely exhilarating. He was already half hard and Gaius hadn’t even gotten his pants off yet (He chose to believe it was mostly residual from the dream he’d been having, just to give Estinien the benefit of the doubt). When was the last time he’d been with someone who responded so earnestly to his touch? Even if the other man remained silent his body telegraphed his enjoyment at nearly every moment it could. 

Gaius decided to be courteous enough to pull Estinien’s clothes to down the upper part of his thighs to save him from having to clean his pants as well as his body later. The hand at the dragoon’s chest switched to the other side. 

“Excited are we?” Estinien didn’t respond to the question but a small, quiet sound did finally escape from his mouth when Gaius’s hand made full skin to skin contact and went to quick work rubbing up and down his length. “So you are actually enjoying this.” 

“Shut up.” Gaius was sure the comment was supposed to have bite to it but none made it through the quick, needy breaths on either side of it. He wasn’t here to lecture Estinien about how it was okay to let himself enjoy things either. The man was enough of an adult to figure that out on his own time. 

It was clear that Estinien didn’t know what to do with his own hands, judging by the way his fingers were digging deep into his own thighs. When Gaius had decided that his chest had had enough attention, the elezen’s nipples puffy and tender under his touch, he used his hand not currently occupied with getting Estinien off to move the other’s hands behind his back. Once there Gaius grabbed both around the wrist and held them there. Most of the elezen body could be described as elegant and the race’s long, thin wrist were no exception. Not that Gaius particularly cared beyond the fact that it meant they were small enough that he could hold both Estinien’s hands together easily with just one of his. 

It was a gamble whether or not Estinien would react well to being restrained. Gaius figured that he’d either detest it or secretly love it. When he made no moves to get his hands free Gaius decided it was the latter. 

By then Estinien’s length was slick with precum, his breath ragged. Gaius had kissed and bitten bruises into where his shoulder met his neck. To see a man so usually walled off an absolute mess in his lap was a treat in and of itself. As much as he wanted this to last longer, to revel in the moment of being one of the only people capable of getting Estinien to this point, it was clear that Estinien was close to the edge. 

Gaius gave a few last rough pumps and then it was over. Estinien finished with a small cry, so uncharacteristically needy and desperate that it through Gaius for a loop. It was almost like he’d be privy to some well hidden part of the elezen that he wasn’t supposed to know existed. He’d think about that later though. Now the more pressing matter was the mess that was his hand and Estinien’s shirt. 

Gaius got up, letting go of Estinien’s hands as he did so. He tried to gauge how the other man was feeling from his face but it was oddly empty. Unsatisfied, he went back to getting their canteens so they could clean up. 

“Here,” Gaius said as he offered up Estinien’s canteen to wipe off himself and his shirt. Estinien takes it wordlessly and uses just enough water that now the grime and dirt on the front matches the grime and dirt of the rest of the shirt before fully dressing himself again.

“I’m tired,” Estinien said as he finished cleaning himself up. His voice wavered, like he was looking for an answer to a question he hadn’t asked. 

“Go back to sleep then.” 

“Not going to make me return the favor?” Of course post orgasm, exhausted Estinien still had the energy to be cheeky. 

“Go back to sleep.” 

Gaius didn’t look back over at his travelling companion again until he’d settled back against the tree he’d been leaning against earlier. When he did it did not escape him that Estinien seemed to have fallen back asleep quickly and peacefully. 

If there was sort of fondness for the other man growing in him he ignored it. 

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know where this came from but here it is. I just know I needed a break from my Estimeric stuff and this was what I thought of. Also apologies for the lead up to the actual smut being so long. I'm incapable of just getting to the point. I have another idea for these two as well, so maybe that'll be up here one day too. 
> 
> I'm @sweetotters on twitter if anyone wants to chat


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